Maharashtra CCI Procurement Hit by Delays in Farmer Verification

Maharashtra: CCI Cotton Procurement Slows Amid Verification and Administrative Hurdles

Akola: The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has started cotton procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), but progress remains slow due to technical and administrative issues. In nine districts of Vidarbha, over 3.5 lakh farmers have registered so far. However, only 21,314 farmers have been verified and approved, while nearly 2.9 lakh applications are still pending. Around 13,921 applications have been rejected due to technical errors.

District-wise Procurement Centres
A total of 89 procurement centres have been set up across the region, including nine in Akola, 14 in Amravati, nine in Buldhana, ten in Chandrapur, one in Gadchiroli, 11 in Nagpur, 13 in Wardha, four in Washim, and 18 in Yavatmal.

For the current season, CCI has introduced a mobile app for farmer registration, requiring details such as crop information, Aadhaar card, and photographs. Verification of these details has been assigned to state agencies at the market committee level. However, delays in this process are preventing many farmers from selling their produce at procurement centres.

Most of the centres are operational or nearing readiness. So far, around 16,500 quintals of cotton have been procured. While intermittent rains delayed harvesting, arrivals are now gradually increasing. Officials expect procurement to gain momentum once verification speeds up.

Verification Delays and Rejections
The slow pace of verification at the market committee level has become a major bottleneck. In several cases, applications have been rejected due to errors made by farmers while entering details in the app.

Issues at Akot Market Committee
Procurement at the Akot Market Committee in Akola district faced delays as no-objection certificates (NOCs) were not issued to 22 ginning operators due to pending market fee payments. This halted the opening of procurement centres.

After the issue came to light, District Sub-Registrar Geetesh Chandra Sable directed CCI and the Market Committee to convene a meeting at the District Collector’s office. Local MP Anup Dhotre also intervened, urging immediate action. Following this, the administration resolved the issue, and NOCs were issued to 10 buyers in Akot, allowing procurement activities to resume.

Read More :- Cotton app and government delays add to farmers' woes in Telangana

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